"It'd be amazing to see a porpoise": Artist in spectacular North Sea plunge with seals and dolphins after winning award

This article originally appeared on Culture24.

Artist who snorkelled alongside seals off Hebrides to go deep again after winning award

Beautiful nudibranchs (multi-coloured sea slugs), lightbulb sea squirts, sun stars, squat lobsters, porcelain and hermit crabs and diving sea birds are among the extraordinary wildlife awaiting Chris Rose between Coquet, in Northumberland, and St Mary’s off the Cornish coast.

The internationally acclaimed wildlife artist has won the Undersea Art Award 2015 and a bursary allowing him to spend the summer diving the  stretch of the North Sea.

His plunges will provide the inspiration for paintings to be exhibited at Natural Eye - the annual show of the Society of Wildlife Artists at the Mall Galleries in London - in autumn 2015.

Rose has previously snorkelled off the Outer Hebrides to watch seals underwater and at St Abb’s Head to watch guillemots swimming. But diving will be a new adventure for the artist.

He said: “The experience got me thinking I would love to attempt the underwater environment. I’m approaching the diving with an open mind – it’d be amazing to see a porpoise but I’ll be happy to see anything."

The coastal stretch is known to attract the harbour porpoise, seals, white-beaked dolphins and even some species of whale.

“I have a particular fascination, bordering on obsession, with painting water. In recent years I have been drawn to the beautiful Northumberland coastline for my paintings,” adds Rose.

“The seashore has provided me with a wealth of inspiration, but the next step has to be to venture beneath the waves, and I am thrilled to be given the opportunity to try to capture the beauty and magic of the underwater, marine environment.  I can’t wait."

The beauty and diversity of the area means it is under consideration for designation as a Marine Conservation Zone, filling gaps in a protected network within the North Sea.

“People are often surprised that our seas are teeming with the most amazingly colourful, iridescent and extraordinary wildlife," believes Joan Edwards, the Head of Living Seas at The Wildlife Trusts.

"The North Sea can rival any ancient woodland when it comes to diversity and habitats.”

The proposed zone stretches from the high water mark down 30 metres, covering an area of nearly 200 square kilometres.

“The underwater world is a habitat that we rarely have a chance to experience first-hand," says Harriet Mead, the President of the Society of Wildlife Artists.

"The extraordinary setting with its myriad of species, interactions and behaviour has proved to be a rich vein of inspiration for the artists given this award in the past, myself included.

“By giving this opportunity, The Wildlife Trusts have enabled Chris to observe familiar and unfamiliar wildlife in their environment. I am confident that the results will be spectacular.”

• Visit Chris Rose's blog for more.

Three places to discover the natural world in:

The Eden Project, St Austell
Open in 2001, Cornwall's biodomes include the world's largest indoor rainforest.

National Botanic Garden of Wales, Llanarthne
The Garden of Wales links the history of the last millennium with the present, set in the former 18th century regency park of Middleton Hall in Carmarthenshire, a 568-acre estate on the edge of the Tywi valley.

Natural History Museum, London
Home to the nation's finest collections of natural history specimens, the collection includes 70 million plants, animals, fungi, bacteria, fossils, rocks and minerals.

Source: http://www.culture24.org.uk/art532554-it-be-amazing-to-see-a-porpoise-artist-in-spectacular-north-sea-plunge-with-seals-and-dolphins-after-winning-award